A few weeks ago I was asked to be on a panel at Fairfield University to discuss my experiences in the media business. My fellow panelists held a variety of careers within the media world. They included an accomplished journalist formerly from ABC News now working as the managing editor for TheShriverReport.org, a newspaper reporter with 30 years' experience, a book publishing editor, a video producer and a video designer.
Before the discussion began the event organizer and fellow panelist, Audra Martin (video producer for Group SJR), informed us to be as honest as possible and not sugarcoat the reality of the job market or our collective foray into the media business. Audra also pointed out that over half these students will graduate from college without ever having an internship. The panel was insightful and the students asked incredible questions. I've highlighted the three main takeaways.
Don't dismiss internships
Internships have been getting a bad rap the last few years due to some companies being sued and some deleting their programs all together – like the media magnate Hearst. You can take a class, read countless books, ace every exam on a topic but that doesn't at all compare to experiencing it firsthand. Internships are very valuable, every student no matter if you're hoping to work in sales, finance, tech or media should have at least one under their belt. It's a daunting process to narrow down an internship opportunity – especially if your college career department doesn't have the right contacts.
Don't be afraid to look up opportunities on your own by tapping into your network. Reach out to former professors, family and friends and previous employers. You never know whose cousin's college roommate might be able to score you a great experience. A great untapped asset is connecting with former alumni forinformational interviews. You can get a list of contacts from your career department or by doing a search on LinkedIn. If you also decide to apply for internships directly on an employer's website make sure you reach out directly with the hiring manager as well. Don't trust that sending your resumes to internships@thebestcompanyever.com will get you noticed. Instead, utilize your research skills and find out who the hiring manager and follow up with them directly.
Be persistent with a purpose
"How many emails and calls is too many," asked several student who were eager to get noticed but didn't want to become an annoyance to a potential employer. The panel was in agreement that in order to get noticed you need to be a squeaky wheel. On an average day we collectively agreed that we receive 100-200 emails. It's very easy for something to get lost which is why it's essential to follow up. When you are following up always respond with something that , "I read this article on TechCrunch and thought you would find it interesting" or "I attended this marketing lecture and it made me think about what we discussed in our meeting."
The other point to consider is that when you are reaching out to someone in hopes of a meeting, job, or information you need to have done your homework and create an "in". Study the person you are contacting. Read their LinkedIn Profile, study their company and career history. Use this information to your advantage over email, "I read your article on PR trends and learned a ton" or "I see you work on the Today Show – I'm such a huge fan. I especially love the Orange Room." This is your in. Chances are the people you are emailing know why you are contacting them but going the extra mile and doing your homework turns your "ask" into a relationship.
No one has their dream career at 21
When you graduate it's very easy to 'assume' that you'll be starting at the top (or close to it) – especially when you look at successful millennials like Mark Zuckerberg, Lena Dunham and Instagram founder Kevin Systrom. Except that is very rarely the case. Most people start at entry-level positions -– and that's OK. Learning the ropes, watching from the sidelines and getting in tune with office dynamics will help shape your professional persona. Chances are you'll be interviewing and submitting dozens of resumes after graduation. The job market is constantly growing, changing and adapting.
There are so many different types of jobs out there. I've seen countless people pass up great opportunities because it wasn't their 'dream job.' That dream gig might never find you. If you get a job offer that sounds great and interests you – take it. The time to experiment is in your 20s. Take risks, learn new things and be open to new experiences. You don't have a family to support or mortgage payments to worry about. Take that hourly-wage earning, 3-month production assistant job on the latest Scorsese film.
How Skype in the Classroom Is Helping Teachers
It's hard to believe, but school is almost back in session. Teachers around the country are getting back into the grind and looking for new methods to engage their students. One virtual learning tool that is transforming schools across the nation is Skype in the classroom.
I had the opportunity to sit in on a live demo a few months back and was blown away. It was amazing to see how technology is changing the way children think. Skype in the classroom (the capitalization is theirs) includes 400,000 educators and reaches 3-5 million people worldwide. I interviewed Wendy Norman, Head of Skype Social Good at Microsoft, on how Skype in the classroom is improving how teachers engage with their students.
What is Skype in the classroom? "Skype in the classroom is a free worldwide network connecting teachers and their classrooms with other classrooms around the globe and hundreds of guest speakers and field trips from every continent via Skype. And it's quick and easy to search for the perfect 'virtual resource' for a lesson," says Wendy.
"The network launched in 2011 after the Skype for Good team heard stories of teachers using Skype in their classrooms to travel thousands of virtual miles to meet a group of African penguins, see the view from the top of Mt. Everest, learn how math is taught in rural India vs. upstate New York, and foster year-long Skype Pals to facilitate project based learning initiatives with schools in other countries. We originally created it with a group of teachers and to this day all development and innovation are co-designed with educators around the globe," says Wendy.
How can teachers use this tool in their own classrooms? According to Wendy, teachers only need an internet connection, a webcam and a computer/smart board. "We find that even in the most rural or economically challenged communities, with just these three things, teachers have endless opportunity. For example, from just a single PC in the rural town of Mondamin, Iowa, which is an hour away from the nearest grocery store, teacher Gina Felton's class completed 100 Skype calls with other classrooms in North America to play a game called Mystery Skype and guess the location of their classrooms. Her students became global travelers, expert researchers, and inquirers, and never left their classroom. Mystery Skype links two geographically distant classrooms. Each must guess the other's location by asking questions about culture, climate, and customs," says Wendy.
Ready to take a virtual field trip? Budget cuts are a constant struggle for teachers, according to Wendy. "Virtual field trips are now viewed as the most efficient and impactful way to complement units about places and things that still exist or can be experienced in real time. Students can experience a guided tour over Skype of a museum, a national park or monument, a famous landmark, a concert or live performance," says Wendy. Wendy shares examples of how two teachers in remote school districts use the tool to connect their students with issues from around the world.
Gina Felton, a teacher based in Mondamin, IA, is the only fifth grade teacher at West Harrison Community School, a school that covers a landmass of 247 square miles with 329 students ranging from pre-K-12th grade. Before using Skype, Gina's students' only opportunity to get out of the classroom for a field trip was a nature hike at a local reserve. To date, her class has played Mystery Skype with over 100 classrooms in North America, connected with published authors living in NYC, and learned about the Holocaust from the creators of the Paper Clip Project.
Dyane Smokorowski, a teacher based in Andover Kansas, plans a virtual class visit to a high school in Tasmania, Australia to learn about their culture and collaborate on lessons covering geography, economics, and mathematics this upcoming school year. After reading Treasure Island Dyane's students developed an interest in piracy, so she used Skype to develop a 10-week program highlighting intellectual property and piracy. Her students then had the opportunity to engage with guest speakers like the CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America to enhance the lesson.
How will Skype in the classroom enable teachers to do their job better and also have an impact on students? "Teachers can build whole units around Skype conversations with other classrooms or experts, designing projects they can collaborate on together for weeks at a time. Allowing for this kind of real-time, global expertise to come into the classroom, helps build more sensitive and aware global citizens. They are learning in the way they are living. A 24/7, real-time, constantly updated environment of social media and access to almost any piece of information in real time," says Wendy.
Wendy gives us an example of Boston-based social studies and global history teacher Kader Adjout.
"[Adjout] emphasizes the importance of exploring history from multiple perspectives by using Skype with people from areas around the globe including Afghanistan, Germany, Israel, Egypt and more. His students learned about the Egyptian electoral system during that country's election, while a class of Egyptian students learned about the American system, and then they discussed the best electoral system. His students even debated with a classroom in Pakistan after the assassination of Osama bin Laden and discussed the right a country has to national sovereignty, and learned the perspectives that the Pakistani students had about the U.S. government." You certainly can't get that out of a classic textbook.
How is technology changing teaching careers? Teacher Mike Soskil, a Newfoundland, PA teacher who won the 2012 Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching, says, "Using Skype in the classroom to forge global connections does more than just engage and motivate students who are growing up in this digital age. It inspires and reinvigorates teachers by reminding them of the very reasons they entered the profession - to make positive changes in the world and impact future generations. The power to easily connect students, teachers, experts, and amazing people from around the globe has revolutionized what a classroom can be in today's world."
What is the number one challenge teacher's face? Educator Dyane Smokorowski, 2013 Kansas Teacher of the Year and Instructional Technology Coach in Andover, KS says, "By using the Skype in the classroom community, I can now connect my students to expert scientists, authors, students in other countries, social activists, national park rangers, and more at absolutely no cost to me, and I can schedule those experiences to work just within the time frame of my class. Now students' questions are answered by experts in real time while building excitement and passion for the curriculum content. My students are becoming more curious, asking more challenging questions, and showing a love of learning that is contagious."
Skype helps working parents. "Teachers like Amy Rosenstein in Ardsley, NY use Skype for guest speakers, Mystery Skype and virtual field trips, but also use the platform to keep working and busy parents engaged in the classroom. Often times, only one parent can make it to parent-teacher conference night because the other is stuck at work. Some of her parents have opted to join 'in person' over Skype. She also encourages parents to visit the classroom over Skype as a modern take on Bring Your Parent to Work Day," says Wendy.
Is College Worth it?
Meet Nancy. She's a 28-year-old tour guide. She leads city tours in Florida. She went to a great college and majored in photography. She tried to make it in her profession, but taking a crying baby's photos or shooting a wedding wasn't her ideal career after all. She now works at a job that is seasonal, has no real growth or benefits and didn't necessarily require her diploma.
Meet Danielle. She's a 29-year-old manager of a popular seasonal bar in New York. She graduated from a prestigious fashion school and scored a job designing showrooms for stores. She hated it. She started bartending and saw she was able to triple her former salary. She only works four months out of the year and is able to travel for eight months. To her, college was pointless and not at all necessary. If she could do it again, she would have saved her tuition money and started bartending four years earlier.
Meet Dan. He's a 30-year-old bartender at a popular bar in Washington, D.C. Dan graduated from a local college there but wasn't interested in finding a job in his chosen career path of art history. He bartended through college and kept going after graduation. He isn't thinking about applying to a regular nine-to-five.
Meet Andy. He's a 25-year-old waiter, a former pre-med graduate. After attending classes, he saw that becoming a doctor was not the path for him. He's still thinking about what his next steps are, but at the moment he is very happy and comfortable with where he is financially. He's taking food and wine courses to help him move up in the industry.
All of these people are extremely intelligent and educated. They all expressed how much interpretation and analysis goes into each of their lines of work -- something the customer rarely thinks about.
The college system is broken. More and more graduates are entering industries that not only have nothing to do with their field of interest but might not even require a degree. Colleges need to provide real life, on-the-job training. Students should have a chance to fully test out what that job should be. They should understand the roles, responsibilities, salary and demand of that position.
With the exorbitant cost of college, it really might not be the best option for some people. Plenty of industries do not require a four-year degree and won't leave students in a job they don't like with high amounts of student debt. Those jobs include electrician, cosmetologist, hygienist, customer service representative, or paralegal.
Professors Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa from New York University andThe University of Virginia released a study and wrote a book, Aspiring Adults Adrift, on the demise of prepared college graduates. They told the Wall Street Journal,
"Colleges focus too much on students' social lives at the expense of a strong academic and career road map. Schools have given their charges an unrealistic sense of what it takes to achieve their life aims, resulting in overwhelming -- and possibly unrealistic --optimism among young people about their prospects."
Everyone's vision of success is different. The ROI of attending collegesattending colleges have faltered the millennial set. Schools need to take action now and reform their education process.